Six months ago I started building PDF Pro AI — a browser-based PDF toolkit where files never leave your device. Everything runs via WebAssembly locally.
Here's what's happened since, what worked, and what didn't.
What we built
Started with basic PDF tools (merge, split, compress). Then added AI-powered analyzers:
Medical report reader (explains lab results in plain language)
ATS resume scanner (checks against Darwinbox, Workday, TCS iON and 18 others)
Contract and NDA analyzer
Salary slip breakdown
Bank statement to Excel converter
Then generators:
Salary slip generator
GST invoice generator
Quotation/estimate generator
ATS resume builder
All processing happens client-side. No files ever hit a server.
What actually worked
Content silos. Building a hub page + 8-10 sub-pages around each tool (medical report analyzer → thyroid report, ECG report, blood test, kidney function, CBC, etc.) drove the most organic growth. 337 pages indexed now from roughly zero 6 months ago.
The privacy angle — genuinely differentiating. "Your medical report never leaves your device" resonates strongly when competitors are uploading sensitive files to cloud servers.
First real paying user came through the Darwinbox ATS scanner after 3 free scans. That moment validated the whole model.
What didn't work
Urgency framing in titles. Added "before July 31 deadline" to tax-related pages — actively hurt CTR, had to revert. People don't click deadline pressure from unknown brands.
Building too many informational pages in saturated categories. Salary slip explainers competing against RazorpayX, Zoho, Salesforce — structural ceiling regardless of content depth.
Current state
DR 15, 337 indexed pages
23 users/day (Analytics), ~7 from organic search
Real revenue: ₹49 (ATS scanner) + ₹19 (unlock PDF) so far
Traffic from 57 countries in 7 days — not just India
The tech stack
Next.js 14, TypeScript, Tailwind, pdf-lib, Tesseract.js (dropped — accuracy issues), WebAssembly for PDF processing, Neon PostgreSQL for user events and payments, Vercel for hosting.
What's next
MRI report analyzer sub-page (queries showing up, no page yet), more ATS platform coverage for international traffic (seeing users from China, Russia), and pushing the generator tools to rank.
Happy to answer questions about the WebAssembly PDF processing architecture, the content silo strategy, or the monetization approach.
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